Do you vote in political elections?
Yep, since being a teenager, I’ve been casting my vote in state and federal elections. I’m not a fan of the mandatory voting here. If you’re an eligible Aussie and missed the polling, you’re slapped with a fine. A true democracy would give their denizens the freedom of choice. Sometimes, not rocking up means you have pure intentions. I’ve always supported one party, but backed no one in the last edition. I’ve done this once before, in a smaller setting.
From my memoir:
Moving on, at the backend of third year, my classmates ran for student council. They were mostly honour students who wanted to bump up their general averages by serving the masses. During ballot tallying in my section, Miss Maleta (our class advisor) announced, ‘From president to governor, wala (nothing)’.
There were gasps among my peers.
‘Grabe’, someone exclaimed: Holy cow.
‘Pungal!’ BJoy exclaimed: Damn.
They were all flabbergasted. How could anyone waste their vote like that? I was surprised that nobody laughed out loud.
They took their cries to our other advisor: Miss Yayo. When Meyers broached the subject, the former said that such things happen during elections. When pressed, Miss Yayo told us that perhaps the candidates didn’t meet the voter’s criteria. This instance is called a ‘spoiled ballot’. Freya, who sat behind me, was disbelieving. She had heard about it for the first time. Days later, my nemesis James asked me if I authored said ballot.
‘No’, I answered too quickly.
Many moons after the fact, I wish to come clean. I was the renegade who refused to exercise his right to suffrage for one election. To this day, I am surprised that my class had no idea on the culprit. I kept my reaction in check. While Yayo was explaining, I couldn’t look straight at her. I feared of my cover being blown. When Malta revealed the ballot, I acted as shocked as everyone else. As per Yayo, their policies didn’t float my boat. Gauging by the room’s shock level, this was their first such encounter. I didn’t understand all the brouhaha. As they say, ‘It’s a free country.’
In Australia, this practice is more widespread, commonly referred to as a ‘donkey vote’. During the 2010 federal election, I witnessed it firsthand as the public weighed mediocre options. While I stood in line, one older guy took a ballot, folded it, and immediately deposited it into the drop box. Meanwhile, the former Labor leader announced that he would do the same and urged others to follow his lead. My friend chuckled at this but acknowledged that he was tempted to do likewise. He ended up voting for Labor. Prior to his decision, he told me that ‘I don’t want to waste my vote’.
Fair enough.
